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Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Dear committed brothers and sisters, committed Muslims …
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/264299 (10-19-2012)
HAJJ : THE UNIVERSAL INVITATION PART 10
Next week we will all be here trying to renew and energise the celebration of Eid even though our collective memory is incapable of putting these meanings in proper context. As we approach the day of Eid, the tenth of Dhi Al Hijjah, (and) as we approach this day of our yearly assembly it might be worth our time in this khutbah- with the taqwa of Allah on our minds and in our feelings- to try to contribute to the proper contextualising of what al hajj means in at least one of its aspects, as there are plenty of meanings to this yearly assembly of committed Muslims. Let us try to look at the hajj as it was in the days of Allah's Prophet before he was forty years old and before there was any revealed ayaat or Qur'an from Allah.
The hajj was claimed by the Arabian inhabitants of Makkah and Al Hejaz and Arabia to be in the tradition of Ibrahim and Isma'eel (alayhima as salaam). This has to be made very clear in the minds of the performing hujjaj. Makkah did not lose its traditional value since the time of Ibrahim up until today. The traditional or the customary practice of the hajj has been a yearly event in the traditions of Ibrahim and then in the traditions of Muhammad that were meant to reinvigorate and to capture the active and the realistic meanings that were ingrained in this hajj since its inception. So with this general understanding, what was the hajj when the Prophet was growing up? Who were the people who were coming to the hajj? What did they do? Remember, when revelation came to Allah's Prophet he went to this type of hajj that we are going to speak about right now. Primarily al hajj was a commercial activity. People would bring anything that they had to sell to the hajj and we don't know of any contravention of this in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah; to the contrary there's an ayah in the Qur'an that encourages this aspect of the hajj. The ayah says
There's nothing against you if you were to seek abundance from Allah during this time of the hajj… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 198)
As the minds of the Scholars of Islam have interpreted the word fadh'lan min Rabbikum, it means worldly commercial or market profits. There's nothing wrong. In other words what this is saying in the words of the ayah and in the traditions that were part of society from the time of Ibrahim to the time of Muhammad this was in the major feature of the Hajj. People used to go to Makkah and used to leave Makkah without any constraints (and) without any conditions. People used to go to Makkah from all directions- from Ash Shaam, from Al Yemen, from Najd , from Al Hejaz, from Al Iraq, from Al Bahrain. No one was telling them there's any type of criteria for you to come to Makkah. That did not exist! When these people, in their thousands- and when we speak about "in their thousands" in those days, it's like speaking in our millions in our times; so don't get put off by their number "in their thousands" because that has to be understood in its context. Humanity wasn't seven billion people at that time. So when people used to come together in Makkah at that time, remember, it was primarily for market transactions. They wanted to sell what they have (and) that means they are bringing commodities and merchandise with them to Makkah. This was and continued to be a permanent aspect of the Hajj. We don't want to break away from this historical descriptive narrative but we can't help but assist you to immediately contrast people going to the hajj today with people who have been going to the hajj ever since the time of Ibrahim in as far as being, (number one), able to freely access Makkah and Al Bayt Al Haram and, (number two), to bring with them whatever they wanted to bring with them to the Hajj. Just think about it in your mind to realise that something has happened. So besides that, what were these thousands or tens of thousands of people doing in Makkah? Remember, we are speaking about people coming to Makkah during the time of the hajj (and) at that time what were they doing? There were literary contests among the most outspoken communicators of society at that time; there were meetings of decision makers from the different areas that we just pointed to in the Arabian Peninsula and on the peripheries of the Arabian Peninsula ; people used to have their minds meet. They would divulge and disclose their inner thoughts to each other and in the Ibrahimi tradition, because it goes all the way up to the Prophet, there was no one saying "this is a bid'ah, you can't do this in hajj." Even in those thirteen years when the Prophet was in Makkah (and) when he used to every year go to this type of hajj- the type of hajj that we are describing here- he wasn't saying to people "it is some type of non-Islamic character or performance for you to assemble in this type of meeting of the minds." He had a message to communicate to them and he wasn't concerned with their interactions at that time. These people had problems and they used to present these problems to themselves to try to solve these problems. They used to consider that a portion of the hajj. It was a feature of the traditional Ibrahimi hajj. Now, whether these problems were local or whether they were regional or whether they were wider in scope is another issue- the main point here is people in the hajj were concentrating their minds in their own gatherings- whether they were literary gatherings (or) whether they were commercial gatherings (or) whether they were what we call today political gatherings- but no one was saying "this is outside of the Ibrahimi tradition, this doesn't belong in the hajj." When the Prophet of Allah used to meet with these people who used to come to the hajj, what did that result in? It resulted into eventual hijra from Makkah to Al Madinah. In those thirteen years when the Prophet of Allah was in Makkah, the type of hajj that was performed was the one that we just spoke about and described very shortly. The Prophet of Allah used to come to these people who were involved in these types of activities and he wasn't telling them "look- the hajj is not a commercial activity or the hajj is not a literary activity or the hajj is not a political activity." He wasn't say anything concerning that. We think this is an area you also have to be conscious of- during this time of the hajj not only were those who were in the Ibrahimi or in the Muhammadi performance of the hajj attending this yearly assembly; there were also Christians and Jews who were coming to the hajj. Now this doesn't occur because of the way the hajj has been diminished in the past century or two and even more than that if you want to trace it to its origins. But it doesn't occur to the average or even the well informed Muslim that Christians and Jews were coming to the hajj in its Ibrahimi performance and its Muhammadi performance. Why? Something has happened with our perception of the hajj?! There is a very famous articulator who was a Christian. His name is Qis ibn Sa'eedah, (for those who want the name). Go back to any historical reference if you want. Qis ibn Sa'eedah during the hajj gave one of the most eloquent speeches in Makkah in the Haram area. No one said "look, this guy is a Christian (so) he can't come to Makkah or he can't come to the Haram." So where did all this come from? We'll see in a moment. What was revealed to the Muslims and still continues to be a Qur'anan yutla i.e. a sequenced Qur'an or a Qur'anan yuqra i.e. a recited Qur'an among us today is in Surah Bara'ah. This is called Surah At Tawbah- many more Muslims are familiar with Surah At Tawbah. In the first thirty or forty ayahs there are instructions for Muslims to severe their ties with the Mushriks. In straying away from the meanings of the Qur'an we don't have definitions for words. Let's face it- we, Muslims, don't have active, consensual (and) practical definitions of key Qur'anic terminology. The ayah in the Qur'an says
Allah has declared and so has His Prophet a disavowal or a severance of relationship between the committed Muslims and the Mushriks. (Surah At Tawbah verse 1)
The committed Muslims we understand more-or-less. There are areas there that also have to be clarified and crystallized but the Mushriks has become the obstacle word. What do you mean (or) what is meant?! It's easy to translate the ayah.
A disavowal (or) a breaking of ties and bilateral and multilateral agreements (and) military and political alliances between the committed Muslims on one side… (Surah At Tawbah verse 1)
That's clear.
… and the Mushriks on the other side. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 1)
Who are the Mushriks? Here is where we begin to have the policies of today (and) the government that has been ruling in Arabia getting away with imposing its definition of the hajj on all of the rest of the Muslims and for that matter all of the rest of the world. First of all, they don't want the Muslims to declare their Bara'ah from the Mushrikeen. They don't want that to happen. You can't do what the Prophet ordered Aba Bakr and Ali (radi Allahu anhuma) to do, i.e. to declare on Yawm Al Hajj Al Akbar, on the day of Eid, (which is a week away from us today), that we, the Muslims, who are assembled in Makkah from practically every country in the world that now we are in a mode, in a frame of mind (and) in an orientation that wants to cut off these relationships of dependency upon the Mushriks. Now, once again, who are these Mushriks? We know from reading our own Prophetic and Islamic history that the Prophet had enemies in the Arabian Peninsula and these enemies were of a variety. They had different descriptions. There were some who were called Al Kafireen, others who were called Al Fasiqeen, others who were called Adh Dhaalimeen, others who were called Al Munafiqeen and others who were called Al Mushrikeen. Who are these Mushriks. For Allah's sake can we clarify this issue of who these Mushriks are? It's very easy. You go back to the ayaat in the Qur'an and you get a grip on the meaning of this word in context. When you have that you'll have the definition of who these Mushriks are. To bring in today's words into these meanings of the Qur'an and the Prophet's Seerah and Sunnah it would be equivalent of saying these Mushriks are those who equate other powers and authorities with Allah resulting in injustice and oppression. To do this you need institutions. We're trying to bring you the aroma and the flavour of the meanings of these ayaat into today's daily language. In order to be opposed to the Prophet of Allah to the extent of going to war with him
Remember how the kaafirs plotted against you, to keep bonded or slay you or expel you out of your home (Surah Al Anfal verse 30)
In order for these meanings to come alive we're going to have to fill in the blanks of history that have led us to the stagnant hajj we have today (and) formed by millions of Muslims every year. These institutions have to be identified and those who are running these institutions, the Mushrikeen, also have to be identified. It's not simply "Oh some Christian or some Jew is a Mushrik." No! This is a simplistic and a naïve and a reductionist explanation for who these Mushriks are when this ayah is revealed. Allah and His Prophet have reached the point where now it is our (i.e.) the hujjaj's responsibility who go to Makkah to say (or) to state in public
A disavowal (or) a breaking of ties and bilateral and multilateral agreements (and) military and political alliances between the committed Muslims and the Mushrikeen. (Surah At Tawbah verse 1)
The other following ayah says
A declaration from Allah and His Prophet to the people on the great day of Hajj that Allah and His Messenger are free from these types of agreements with the Mushrikeen… (Surah At Tawbah verse 3)
Adhaan is a public announcement. We ask these officials in Arabia who say "there are no politics in the hajj" what do you mean? What are these ayaat? Tell us! Are these ayaat in Surah At Tawbah and Surah Al Bara'ah or are they not politics? Are they or are they not military instructions? This is serious stuff. We have to internalise and then publicly express these meanings during this time of the year knowing what we are all about. We are not people who are going out there and occupying other people's sanctities. We are not people who are looking for a fight. We are not people who are, (right now this is the seasonal word), terrorists. We are not terrorists. The ayaat in the Qur'an that are integral to this ayah and this Surah of bara'ah is looking at a larger picture.
You go to war for the cause of Allah against those who go to war against you and you do not launch aggression, Allah doesn't favour aggressors (or) there's no affinity between Allah and aggressors. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 190)
And if they, (meaning these Mushriks that we are speaking about) tilt towards non-belligerency and towards the absence of war then you do the same. (Surah Al Anfal verse 1)
Don't let some people come to you and try to draw a picture in which Muslims are automatically, instinctually and by second nature trigger-happy. This is stabbing the Qur'an in the back- that's what they want to do (and) that's what they've been doing. In today's world, as was the case in the Prophet's world at that time, there are agreements. Governments have agreements with other governments, governments that are in Muslim countries have agreements with governments that are in Mushrik institutionalised countries. This is a fact of life. Some of these agreements are permanent (and) some of these agreements have a time schedule to them and in these ayaat all of these aspects are dealt with in a manner that makes it obligatory that a Muslim honours these agreements unless they are permanent then they are given a four months span to expire. These Mushriks can think themselves out in four months and decide what they want to do with Muslims as a power that expresses itself. The first expression comes from their meetings in the hajj where their minds meet (and) where they open up their minds to each other and where they consolidate their decision making. None of that is allowed in today's hajj or in today's umrahs. What Allah is telling us to do worldly powers are telling us not to do!
One of the expressions on this day of hajj in the ninth year of the ten years of the Prophet was in Al Madinah whoever has entered into some type of pact with the Messenger of Allah that pact shall be honoured until the stipulated timeframe that defines it; if it's a matter of months (or) if it's a matter of years, and then it's over but those who are in an indefinite arrangement with the Islamic State in Al Madinah, that indefinite arrangement is annulled and there shall only be four months after which these Mushrik forces have to reconfigure their relationships with this Islamic determination expressed in Makkah. There are other ayaat that we wanted to express in Surah Al Bara'ah. The first thirty odd ayah in Surah Al Bara'ah but there's simply no time but if you return to your Qur'an and to your Prophet and to your mind and review these meanings you will see that they are contradictory to the policies, the procedures, the directives, the instructions and the general management of the hajj as it is performed and has been performed ever since those family rulers have taken control of Makkah and Al Madinah and it simply has to come to an end! Brothers and sisters- you will see some of them on different occasions during the year or you will see some of their extensions on different occasions during the year simply with the Islamic character that you have, not the character that is presented in the media (but) the character that is moulded by the Qur'an and the Prophet ask them "how do you square the performance of the hajj nowadays with the way it was performed since its inception by Ibrahim and Isma'eel and the way it was regenerated by the last Prophet of Allah and the committed Muslims with him in addition to the meanings of Surah Al Bara'ah by the laws that you have right now that criminalises Muslims today for wanting to have a public mind that rehearses and concentrates on the meanings in Surah Al Bara'ah?" The Prophet of Allah has demonstrated to us because the year before the Prophet passed away he sent Aba Bakr and Ali to Makkah to declare this independence, (this is what it is in today's language), from the Mushriks. In today's world these Mushriks are the institutions of Zionism and Imperialism and Capitalism and racism- all of these have institutions that declare their hostility to committed Muslims. There is blood and bones in these Mushrik institutions that have to be identified and once they are, we have to declare our independence from them. Thus this hajj is a declaration of Islamic independence from the preponderant forces in the world that has displaced Allah's authority and His power.
Dear committed brothers and sisters…
What is happening in our sacred precincts and territories nowadays will be looked back at by future generations as the Muslims having hit rock-bottom! Muslims go to Makkah and Al Madinah and they feel elated (and) some of them ecstatic that they have performed their hajj not knowing that by the standards of the Qur'an and the Prophet they did not perform their hajj. This is the dilemma that faces us every year and it is due to these rulers who have imposed the Imperialist-Zionist will on the days of the hajj. Not only have they shrank the hajj by numbers- remember Makkah is an open place (and) it's been that way up until the advent of the Saudi rulers. Now it's become off limits or if you want to go you need the Saudi government's permission to go to Makkah and Al Madinah. This never ever was the case or the condition between Makkah and those who look at Makkah as their Ka'bah and their Qiblah. Never! This is something new, but as new as it is with the past less than a hundred years, many Muslims are not aware of it. What is happening there? This is the time of the hajj. We are supposed to be speaking of a time when there is a heightened sense of moral sensitivity. What do you have? What type of news is coming out of there? A lot of Muslims feel incensed and they feel enraged when you speak about the sexual moral corruption that goes on there- it's not that human nature doesn't have its perverts it does. This is not something peculiar to Muslims but what is offensive is that this human perversion is practised during the time of the hajj in the most sacred precincts on Earth. What are we talking about? A young Egyptian lady was taken by force to a rest area right there in Makkah during this Holy place and time by five Saudi gentlemen. We're sorry to say this brothers and sisters but we have to look at the facts as they are- each day one of these Saudis took turns in these five days in this rest area when one of them would go to her and rape her. Now, to them this is something that no one should know about. To them they are not responsible for something like this. (Is) this going to go to court? We'll try to follow this. If public information surfaces we'll keep you posted but if the past has any indicator the issue is going to die and the hajj is going to remain "this well supervised clean activity managed by the Saudi royals" who are themselves managed by Shayateen Al Ins wa Al Jinn.
Another news item that you may want to hear about during these high Holy times of the year… An Egyptian lady, an Egyptian young women, (brothers and sisters from Egypt-
(Do) you want more of these types of events? Just look at their history (and) look what they've done. They honoured their agreements with the Mushriks in Europe and then they went into war twice in their history against Ottoman Muslims- once during the time of, (what we may call), the Wahabbi era and then once again at the beginning of World War One. Are these people, people who honour their pledge (and) their allegiance with Allah and His Prophet or do they honour their pledge and their allegiance to London and to Washington Washington
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on 19 October 2012 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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